Is ruining a mission a violation?

The other night I was taking my second character through the Borlis Pass mission with a random PUG, and all seemed normal until it came time to light a beacon with an enchanted torch at the mission end.

A monk in the group, who we'll call "Ozone" (due to site policy, I guess I can't name him), had picked up the torch, and apparently went AFK while we were waiting for him to light the torch. Actually, a moment before, I think he typed "brb, going for food" in the team chat window. Anyway, he wasn't AFK as we found out. He demanded 3K or he wouldn't light the torch!

So, I'm thinking he's just joking, but after a couple minutes, another person in the group starting getting into it with Ozone, name-calling, insulting, etc. Ozone simply stood firm, refusing to light the torch, and in fact taunting us, by occasionally dropping the torch and then picking it back up before we could get it. Ah, maturity...

A couple of us, including me were just sort of stupefied, and asked him (in a polite way) why he was doing this. He said it was payback for someone in our group who knew who they were, but Ozone wouldn't name the person.

After a few minutes of this, the guy insulting Ozone quit the group. Thinking he might have been the guy Ozone was paying back, we asked him to please light the torch so we could complete the mission. He still demanded 3K, however, (which, btw, is a lot for most players at that point in the game), and would not light the torch. Then for maybe 5 minutes, no one moved, spoke, or did anything. Finally, another person in the group told the team that we should report Ozone to support.guildwars.com, and that this person was going to take screenshots of the dialog and do that. Ozone simply replied, "Go ahead."

It was pretty late at night and I was sick of this, so I whispered to Ozone (politely again), that I was sorry but I was going to report him. He whispered back, "I don't care. But if you pay me 1K I will light the torch."

I quit the mission, logged off, and did report the incident to guildwars support. Then I felt like a narc.

A short while later, I got an automated reply saying they would investigate. Then shortly after that, I got a reply from a tech, saying that he had reviewed the game logs, found the incident, and appropriate action would be taken. He couldn't say if it was a violation, or what the action would be.

However, I haven't seen Ozone logged on since, so maybe...

That's the best thing you could've done. The guy is an obvious asshat and deserves to lose his account.

There is a policy here about naming people - you should edit your post to eliminate his name. But good job reporting him, and yes, it is an offense to extort in game.

If it's not a violation, it should be.

siren, i feel bad for you and the members of your group. it really is amazing what kind of people you find online. it's a shame that people, for the most part, don't have to take responsibility for their actions online. i hope that guy is banned.

They're pretty good about dealing with shidiots like this from what I've seen.

Anet cannot legally disclose the actions they take against players, so they won't tell you what they do to him. But intentional griefing in missions is something the company takes actions against, and you can be pretty sure that something will be done in the name of violation to the rules of conduct

What they apparently do is suspend a person and flag him per violation. For each additional violation, the suspension time increases. When a certain number of flags are acquired, the player is banned. A certain amount of time exists where if the player doesn't do anything bad, flags are incrementally dropped. The CSRs can take more significant action in extreme cases.

Saw one of the Anet people post this general policy on one of the boards, don't think it was this one.

Right thing to do I guess.

I would have just quit sooner. Easier to get another group than to put up with that crap - especially at that point in the game. Not like it takes long to get a group together round there.

The next time you have someone that holds a torch/essence/tome/whatever quest item hostage, realize that monsters will attack the holder preferentially and that he/she runs slower than normal. Depending on the situation, you may not be completely helpless. If you are near monsters, bring them over and watch them hone in on the person holding the quest item. He either drops it or die holding it (and then drops it).

Wow, what an idiot. But really, I would have just left my comp and watched TV for an hour, then come back to see if he was still there. I have noticed that ANet is pretty good about customer service/response, so a big for them!

A similar thing happened to me though. I was running Elona Reach, and a lvl 20 W/Mo went and grabbed the second shard while I was getting the first. I turned mine in, and then I saw him running up with the second. I was kind-of supprised, but grateful too... until he asked for 1k from everyone. My group and I just laughed at him. He threatened to go and die in some hard-to-reach spot so that I couldn't get the shard, and we just kept laughing at him. Finally he went out on his quest to ruin our mission because nobody paid him. He charged back towards crystal 2 and was promptly raped by a swarm of hamstrings. Then he cast healing hands on me (guess he forgot to switch targets ), and died in a glorious fit of rage. I grabbed the crystal, ran back, and was tipped by each of my customers. All-in-all, a good run

Well said Dust bunny, but its not the point. GW is a business. They are in the business to make money by provinding an entertainment service. If ppl have bad experiences like these, they may not have the patience to just walk away, and instead quit all toghether. And this means money loss for the company. Its serious.
How do u report these violations? Is there a command?

Long quote... beware. From www.guildwars.com 's support section:

In other words, it must be done from the site. Can't report in-game.

This is the best thing to do and is so much fun, helps against the fustration of having to put up with jerky people, i have used this tatic several times against peeon's, watch them run or die lmao, there were a few that stayed anyway but at least we didn't have to put up with waiting and/or hoping they would do the right thing. I didn't like the fact that the violator got the end of the mission but by then i had such a laugh i didn't really care.

Guildwars.com has a section in the support area to report such actions, and you can attach images of your situtation.

:::End Transmission:::

For Lasareth's quote - that 5th one down, not the highlighted one, seems to fit the situation more.

Taking advantage of them for their items. He refused to light the torch unless you paid him 3k - basically trying to extort you out of your items (the 3k).

I'm always amazed at how little people are willing to risk an account ban for.